Both in her childhood and her early professional life, Carolina Quijano moved around a lot. “Living on planes” — especially when she was working as a management consultant — led her to all kinds of food. She joined Mike Beltrán on this episode of Pan Con Podcast to talk about how that led to her love of chocolate, how she taught herself (with some help from YouTube videos) to make her own, and what it took to eventually launch Exquisito Chocolates, a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. In this episode, we also learn that Mike freaks out about his own mortality on airplanes, Nick is an OK bartender, Carolina is not a sci-fi person.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Katherine Manning and Tung Nguyen and widely regarded as the restaurateur duo responsible for popularizing Vietnamese flavors in Miami at Hy Vong. The two met when Katherine, then a University of Miami grad student, volunteered herself and her home to help resettle refugees after the end of the Vietnam War. Their new memoir, Mango and Peppercorns (published by Chronicle Books), tells the story of their odd-couple friendship, their pioneering restaurant, and a refugee experience that’s as unique to them (and Tung’s daughter Lyn) as it is relatable to the countless refugees they call their neighbors. Katherine and Tung joined chef Michael Beltran at Ariete in Coconut Grove, a stone’s throw away from the home where much of their story plays out, to share some of their story and reflect one of the most consequential restaurants South Florida diners have ever known.

[Editor’s note: there are portions of this interview that might be tough to hear. We didn’t expect all the rain we got while recording on Ariete’s patio, which got a little loud. Thankfully, everyone but Nick managed to stay dry.]

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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It took 23 years for the brewery Manny Portuondo dreamed of opening to become a reality. It took patience, passion, and some legal battles with the Cuban government, but Cervecería La Tropical — Cuba’s first beer brand — has been revived in Miami with an investment from Heineken. On this episode of Pan Con Podcast, Manny and Mike talk about the history behind La Tropical beer, how the brand’s current form takes cues from and interprets its own Cuban legacy, the brand’s significance to the Cuban community in Miami, cultural preservation and why he chose to partner with Heineken — one of the world’s largest brewers — to bring his vision to life.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Lucy López has been a Miami radio fixture since she joined Power 96.5 FM back in 1996; she’s been with the station all this time and now hosts Power 96’s morning show. She joined Mike Beltran on Pan Con Podcast to talk about the state of her industry, Miami’s music, and how Miami mayor Francis Suárez’s efforts to lure tech industry transplants to Miami might change the city. The two also discuss brunch, bread service, being Cuban outside of Miami, and past guest Carlos Frías’ takes on sandwiches.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/DADEmag

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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A chance encounter with a great burger at a Miami pizza joint led Sef González to snap a photo of it on his Motorola Razor. That grainy flip phone photo was the beginning of Burger Beast, one of Miami’s first and best known food blogs. Sef joined Mike on this episode of Pan Con Podcast to talk about food media, his burger museum, his burger book, his events, frita history, skydiving, and the Chug Burger, that Ariete burger that topped Sef’s list of the best burgers in Miami, launching a new chapter in the restaurant's story. We also took our first ever phone call on the podcast when artist and past guest Peter Santa-María called in to set the record straight on his role in inspiring a Foo Fighters song and the prank that Sef pulled on him with Guillermo Del Toro.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Derek Kaplan had a decade-long career as a firefighter, but he started honing his dessert skills in high school when, as he told Mike Beltrán on this episode of Pan Con Podcast, he would make pies for himself and his friend when they had the munchies.Today, Fireman Derek’s Bake Shop has two Miami locations and delivers baked goods nationally. On this episode, Derek and Mike discuss the business of dessert, hospitality, food TV, new media, and the cultural value of sports.

In the Patreon-only extended cut of this episode, Mike has five bonus questions about Derek’s personal dessert preferences.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Drew Estate is one of the biggest names in premium cigars. And Willy Herrera, the company’s master blender, is the man responsible not only for developing new cigar blends, but also for ensuring that the blends in the company’s portfolio maintain consistency year over year. In this conversation with chef Michael Beltran on Pan Con Podcast, Willy talks about how he got into the cigar business at his family’s Little Havana factory, El Titán de Bronze, his experience moving to Estelí, Nicaragua when he made the transition to Drew Estate, and how his work producing cigars compares to Mike’s work as the chef partner at Ariete Hospitality Group. In the Patreon-only extended cut of this episode, Mike has five extra food-related questions for Willy.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Simon Kim is the restaurateur behind Cote, a one-of-a-kind, Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse in New York City, which is set to open its Miami location in early 2021. In this conversation with chef Michael Beltrán on Pan Con Podcast, Simon talks about how visiting fine dining restaurants with his dad in South Korea and his adolescence in his family’s Korean restaurant in Tribeca led to his falling in love with hospitality and restaurants. Simon and Mike also get into their respective experiences with understanding the relationship between their heritage and their work — namely, in how each of them has translated a dual national identity into a restaurant experience. In the Patreon-only extended cut of this episode, Mike has five extra food-related questions for Simon.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

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Carlos Frías is the James Beard Award-winning food editor at the Miami Herald. Before moving into food at the Herald, Carlos was covering sports at The Palm Beach Post, where he also wrote a series about his first trip to Cuba that would later become the framework for his memoir, “Take Me With You: A Secret Search for Family in a Forbidden Cuba.” He joined Michael Beltrán on Pan Con Podcast to talk about his career in journalism, covering the restaurant industry through the COVID-19 pandemic, defining “sandwich” (a recurring topic on this podcast of late) and food journalism ethics. Carlos, Mike and Nick Jiménez also discuss race and cultural appropriation in the context of restaurant branding and whether a particular Chinese concept is using “race as a costume” in a particularly offensive way with its Instagram content. In the Patreon-only extended cut of this episode, Mike has five extra questions to Carlos.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

Theme music: Carlos "Carluba" Rodríguez (instangram.com/carluba)

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Dave Arvelo is the director of MMA athlete development at First Round Management, which represents some of the biggest names in combat sports (e.g., Jorge Masvidal, Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Yoel Romero), along with a roster of NFL clients. Dave joined Mike (who also happens to be his neighbor) on Pan Con Podcast to talk about about his recent move to Miami, how he got his start in the fight business, the impact of the COVID pandemic on sports, and how his dog got the name Jorge. In the Patreon-only extended cut of this episode, Mike poses five extra questions to Dave.

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Production and editing: Nicolás Antonio Jiménez

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.